Ministry of Electronics & IT
Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma inaugurates G20 Cyber Security Exercise and Drill
There is an urgent need to work collectively to build joint resilience to counter cyber-attacks – Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma
Government response needed to counter cyber challenges including cooperation with Law Enforcement Agencies – Ms. Sivagami Sundari Nanda
International participants from over 12 countries and domestic participants from Finance, Education, Telecom, Ports & Shipping, Energy, IT/ITeS sectors participates in the Drill
The Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology , Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma inaugurated the G20 Cyber Security Exercise and Drill for more than 400 domestic and international participants under India’s G20 presidency, here yesterday.
The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team  conducted this Cyber Security Exercise and drill in hybrid mode  where international participants from more than 12 countries joined through online mode while domestic participants from diverse sectors such as Finance, Education, Telecom, Ports & Shipping, Energy, IT/ITeS and others attended in-person as well as in virtual mode.
Secretary, MeitY, Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma delivering Keynote address
In his keynote address, Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma highlighted the fact that cyber incidents are increasingly becoming sophisticated & disrupting affecting not only a nation but having trans-national impact and there is an urgent need to work collectively to build joint resilience to counter cyber-attacks.
The Special Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs , Ms. Sivagami Sundari Nanda in her special address to audience highlighted the need for whole of government response to counter cyber challenges including cooperation with Law Enforcement Agencies  at both domestic and international level.
The Director General, CERT-In, Dr. Sanjay Bahl welcomed the participants and setup the context for the exercise and drill in his address. Commander Chris Waters, Regional Director South Asia, Australia; Mr. Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola , Global Cybersecurity professionals' influencer and thought leader, Nigeria; and Mr. Martin Stewart, First Secretary Cyber Security, UK addressed the participants and shared their experience & insights on effective ways for communities to deal with cyber threats.
The event further progressed with conducting of Strategic Table Top Exercise  and Operational Drill using CERT-In Exercise Platform.
The first Table Top Exercise catered to Board & Top Management on the theme “Synergy to counter Global Cyber Crisis” focused on Crisis Management & Crisis Communication. The second Table Top Exercise, an Operational Drill was designed for CISO and Mid-management on the theme “Building Collective Cyber Resilience”. The scenario for the exercise, which included cyber extortion, data breach, supply chain attacks and disruptions was derived from real life cyber incidents, in which domestic level  incidents escalated to global cyber security crisis.
Exercise was successful in meeting its objectives and provided insights on enhancing and improving Crisis Management, Crisis Communication, Incident Response and global coordination & cooperation.